Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-313

“Kurgh! Cough!”

Han Seol-Ah struggled in pain from being strangled. No, to be more precise, something that had the form of Han Seol-Ah was struggling. Her skin melted down, leaving behind a quivering darkness. It was a unique and grotesque lifeform, as if it was made of shadows.

Oh Kang-Woo smirked. “Are you a Detective Conan criminal?”

The lifeform looked exactly like that.

“ஔஓቃቅሥሓራል!!” the lifeform exclaimed in an unknown language.

Kang-Woo used the Authority of Language to interpret the alien language.

“L-Let me go! Kuh…!”

“Well, I guess you have some form of intelligence.”

That made things much easier. Kang-Woo pulled the black shadow toward him and his eyes narrowed into slits.

“Who are you, and where are we?”

“Kuh…!”

The black shadow averted Kang-Woo’s gaze. Kang-Woo ferociously bared his teeth. A savage bloodlust that a mortal being could not dare hope to endure flowed out from him.

“E-Eek!” the black shadow exclaimed in fear.

It trembled. Black shadows spurted out from its mouth as if it was frothing.

‘I should tone it down a bit.’

Aside from having almost perfectly turned into Seol-Ah, the black shadow seemed to be lacking in pure combat prowess. It seemed to be as strong as a demon from the Fifth or Sixth Hell at most. There was no way that it would be able to endure the energy exuding from Kang-Woo, who had reached a point that those without Divinity could not dare face, and even made the princes of Hell feel like ants.

Kang-Woo lowered the energy he was exuding a little.

“Hurgh! Haaa! Haaa!”

“Now, tell me. Who are you?”

“...”

The black shadow quivered. It said in a voice filled with rage, “That’s what I want to know. Are you the same as them?”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to, but I believe I’m the one asking the questions.”

Kang-Woo added more strength into his hands. The shadow groaned in pain.

“Urrhh…”

“I don’t have time to waste, so tell me now.”

The black demonic energy flowing from Kang-Woo’s body wrapped around the shadow. He forcibly made the shadow submit by using the Authority of Fear.

The shadow spoke soon after, “W-We are… the residents… of this world.”

“Residents?”

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. This satellite world was known as shade, and the shadows were its residents.

‘They live here?’

Kang-Woo looked around. The sky was ash, and the ground was arid. It was as horrid as the Nine Hells. He could not believe that there were beings that actually lived here.

“You must have quite the vitality if you can live in a world like this,” Kang-Woo remarked.

The black shadow flinched, and thick bloodlust rose from it. “You… You bastards were the ones who made our world like this! How dare you say such a thing after trampling on our land? Y-You… scumbags…!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Kang-Woo had not even been aware of a world like this, so he could not understand what the shadow was trying to say.

“Shit… Shit! I will not let you bastards have your way!” the black shadow lashed out. “Death to all outer worlds!”

The shadow’s eyes widened, and its body shook madly as if it were having a seizure.

“What the f…!”

The shadow hung down before Kang-Woo could do anything. Kang-Woo quickly bit his thumb to make blood and used the Authority of Regeneration, but the drooping shadow did not regenerate.

‘It committed suicide somehow.’

It had been his first time meeting such a being, so he had not been able to prepare in any way. Kang-Woo grimaced and laid the drooping shadow on the ground.

“Shit.”

He lacked information. All he knew was that this world was known as Shade, and these black shadows were its residents.

‘Based on what it said, this world seems to have been attacked by one of the otherworldly beings.’

However, Kang-Woo had no idea who it was nor why. He looked up to look at the ash-colored, desolate world. He did not know what Shade used to look like, but it was highly likely that it had at least been capable of sustaining life.

‘Who was it?’

Kang-Woo had no idea who could have destroyed a world so horribly.

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue.

It would only be a waste of time for him to keep thinking about it.

‘For now…’

Kang-Woo extended his hand toward the shadow on the ground.

‘Authority of Predation.’

Black smoke came out of his hand and engulfed the shadow. Crunch, crunch. The Authority of Predation devoured the shadow without a trace.

Riiing.

[You have acquired the unique ability of the Shade species, ‘Mimicry’.]

[You are able to change your appearance into that of a different being for a limited time.]

‘This is…’

Kang-Woo’s eyes widened. He had gotten an unexpected profit.

‘This should be extremely useful.’

As long as he had this ability, there was no longer any need for costumes. None of his demonic energy, sacred power nor mana had risen, but this was a valuable ability in a different way. He tried changing into Kim Si-Hun by using Mimicry.

“Wow.”

The transformation was so perfect that even he was impressed. It was so perfect that even Si-Hun himself would be confused. Kang-Woo canceled Mimicry.

‘This isn’t the time.’

Finding his scattered comrades took priority.

“I don’t think they’d be in any real danger…”

The Mimicry of the Shades, which was what Kang-Woo had decided to call the shadows, would likely not be seen through by anyone, but even in the worst-case scenario, the Shades’ combat prowess was terribly low. It was the same as trying to assassinate someone with a blade made of cotton. Considering the combat prowess of every member currently in the Rift, they would have absolutely no trouble against the Shades.

‘Even so, I should find them as soon as I can.’

Kang-Woo flew up using the Authority of the Sky. He saw someone not that far away. It was Han Seol-Ah.

‘I’m not completely sure yet, though.’

Considering the Shades’ unique ability, it was too soon to make assumptions. Kang-Woo quickly flew toward Seol-Ah.

“... Kang-Woo?”

In her hand was Kang-Woo’s severed head. Black shadow flowed down from the severed area like blood.

‘Holy fuck.’

Kang-Woo flinched from seeing the head of a being that looked exactly like him. He felt like he could see behind her an ocean with a twilight coming down on it for some reason. He instinctively checked to see whether or not his head was intact.

“Are you really Kang-Woo?” Seol-Ah asked in doubt.

She seemed to have been attacked by a Shade that had turned into Kang-Woo. She cautiously approached him and pulled up his shirt.

“Ah…”

Seol-Ah smiled brightly as soon as she saw the red marks on his chest.

“Kang-Woo!”

She hugged him.

‘It’s the real darling.’

The two of them, who had both affirmed each other’s identities in their own way, silently embraced each other for a moment.

Kang-Woo then asked, “Have you seen anyone else?”

“No. I saw a weird monster that took the form of you as soon as I came to my senses, so…” Seol-Ah continued in embarrassment. “I cut off its head in disgust.”

“... Oh, I see.”

Kang-Woo stared at her with mixed feelings. He had managed to stop her fall from grace, but it seemed like its influence still remained somewhat.

‘I can only hope she gets used to the body of an angel.’

Now that Seol-Ah’s body had become closer to that of an angel due to Seraph’s influence, Kang-Woo could only hope for her to learn how to control her obsession. Not even he knew how to artificially control a racial characteristic.

“Let’s search for the others for the time being,” Kang-Woo suggested.

“Okay.”

He took Seol-Ah with him to find the others. They were fortunately able to find the others as soon as they began their search; it seemed like Seol-Ah hadn’t been the only one who had not been far away.

“Fucking hell, what are these things? They’re giving me goosebumps,” Cha Yeon-Joo said while frowning in disgust.

“You weren’t able to tell?” asked Kang-Woo.

“How can I when they look the exact same? I got chills the moment I felt bloodlust from it.”

Yeon-Joo had also been attacked by a Shade mimicking Kang-Woo, but she had easily blocked its attack and tore the Shade apart.

“Hehe, but I feel super refreshed for some reason,” Yeon-Joo said while stretching, as if refreshed from tearing apart the Shade that had taken Kang-Woo’s form.

Kang-Woo frowned while staring at the multiple corpses in his form on the ground.

‘But why are they all mimicking me?’

The Shades that had attacked Balrog, Echidna, Halcyon and even Si-Hun had all taken his form.

“Sniff. Kang-Woo, Kang-Woo…”

Echidna shed tears while grabbing Kang-Woo’s clothes. She seemed to have been considerably shocked when the Shade mimicking him had attacked her.

Kang-Woo patted her head. “Were you surprised?”

“Yeah. I thought you had abandoned me. I thought… I was going to be alone again.”

“Tsk,” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and flicked Echidna’s forehead.

“Ouch.”

“There’s no way that would happen,” he declared.

Echidna smiled.

“But hyung-nim, aren’t these… Shades acting strangely?” Si-Hun mentioned.

“I thought so too. They were as desperate as prey being chased by a predator,” Balrog agreed.

The Shades’ actions certainly left questions.

Si-Hun said while nodding, “Despite having such a perfect transformation ability… They attacked as soon as they approached us. Rather urgently, on top of that.”

“They would have had a much better chance if they actually took their time.”

Kang-Woo nodded at Si-Hun and Balrog’s opinions. “It definitely seems like something is happening in this world.”

“Mm…”

“Whatever the case, we can’t just stand around here.”

They needed to find and destroy the Rift Core as soon as possible. Finding the core itself was not difficult.

“Did Gaia give you that?”

“Yes. She said that it would lead us to the core,” Si-Hun said while using the pure-white crystal orb that he had received from Gaia.

A white light poured out from the crystal orb and pointed in a certain direction. Once they followed the light, they could see a ball of purple energy.

‘That’s the Rift Core.’

It was about thirty meters in diameter. The massive sphere was distorting the space around it.

“So we just have to destroy that, huh?” Kang-Woo expressed.

It was a piece of cake. He used the Key of the Demonic Sea to create Inferno. He slowly raised the sword wrapped in flames.

“Twilight.”

A terrifying heat that felt as if it would burn down the world itself poured out from the sword. Kang-Woo swung it down without hesitation.

Crack.

Just then, the purple sphere split. The hand of a giant demonic beast came out of it and flicked the flames away.